PHILADELPHIA
The Inquirer
November 1, 2017
by The Inquirer Editorial Board
The sordid tale of how former priest James Brzyski raped and molested more than 100 boys from Philadelphia-area parishes again underscores the long overdue need for Pennsylvania lawmakers to abolish the statute of limitations for child-sex-abuse crimes and expand the legal window for victims to file lawsuits against their abusers.
The Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the insurance industry have long fought efforts to hold abusers accountable for past crimes. But the decades-long sexual abuse scandal continues to torment victims and their families. Efforts to heal, let alone restore any trust, cannot occur until the crimes are confronted.
Brzyski’s gruesome story was told in vivid detail by staff writer Maria Panaritis, who conducted more than 40 interviews to document the behavior of Brzyski, who during the 1980s is believed to have sexually assaulted dozens of boys, many from St. Cecilia’s Parish School in Fox Chase and St. John the Evangelist School in Lower Makefield.
His trail of heinous destruction continues to haunt a generation of victims, including Jim Cunningham, who hanged himself in February, and Jimmy Spoerl, raped by Brzyski as an altar boy, who died in March 2016 after battling addiction.
The Rev. James Gigliotti told church officials that Brzyski was molesting boys, some as young as 11 years old. The church’s response was to send Brzyski for treatment in Maryland, where a clinician declared him a pedophile.
Brzyski admitted to “several acts of sexual misconduct,” including with a 7th grader, church records show. Cardinal John Joseph Krol, archbishop of Philadelphia, privately called Brzyski a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” But what happened next is not just sad, it’s frightening.
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